


Old Rips and New Tears

by thesalsagamer396



Series: Loose Screws and Loose Thread; Joker Black and Joker Red [10]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, I need to write more fluff..., Light Angst, Seam gets lost in his thoughts quite a bit, Seam uses he/him pronouns, Seam-centric, These two Jokers are gonna be the death of me, mmm Seam flavored angst, unhappy thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27445891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesalsagamer396/pseuds/thesalsagamer396
Summary: The old shopkeeper's mind had delved darker yet darker to the point of no return...At least that's what he says. But he does care. He cares immensely. But the scars hurt so much more if he shows how much. Best to pretend it doesn't hurt, right?But it's not like he can afford to not care right now. He made a special promise, after all.
Relationships: Jevil & Seam (Deltarune), Jevil/Seam (Deltarune)
Series: Loose Screws and Loose Thread; Joker Black and Joker Red [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894387
Kudos: 29





	Old Rips and New Tears

**Author's Note:**

> What? Something not centered around Jevil? Perish the thought!

If you were to ask what the worst day of Seam’s life was, he would say it was the day that the Lightners stopped wanting to play with him. He remembered it well. During their fun, he had gained a really nasty head wound. The Lightners patched him up, and he felt good as new, but now they were scared to play with him. They saw how easily he could be damaged.

He learned a hard lesson that day: If you love something, you’re bound to break it.

The day the Lightners stopped playing with him was the day he closed himself off from everyone else. He had been broken already. He wasn’t planning on letting it happen again.

And then came Jevil.

That funny little man. The moment he left an opening in his soul, the imp leapt at him and kept him close. They became nearly inseparable. The best of friends, and even better than that. They were the very definition of Soulmates. A pair of Jokers whose powers and styles completed each other.

The day he locked Jevil away was the day he truly knew what pain was. It’s one thing to be broken once. But to be broken again just...It’s not something the mage would wish upon his worst enemies.

It’s why he considers the day the Lightners left him to be the worst day of his life. If he had never been broken before like that, he may never have felt the bitter sting of heartbreak.

He remembered walking back up that dark stairwell, the wails of his beloved echoing all around him. Each step stabbed his soul. When the elevator doors shut and the cries from his partner were cut off, he had finally dropped the cold facade and broke down into pitiful sobs, cotton threatening to escape the large, open gash where his eye once was. He had clutched at his chest, where his soul was. He wanted nothing more than to rip it out and mince it into nothingness. He wanted to tear out his other eye and burn it to ashes. He wished he could destroy his raggedy body from how much it hurt to do this to his dearest companion.

If you loved something, you were bound to break it.

Not only was he broken, but he in turn had broken Jevil.

He remembered Rouxls kneeling beside him when the elevator opened up. The Squire had rubbed his back and offered words of comfort. He took the mage to his quarters and helped to sew a new button eye. Physically, he felt good as new. His soul, however...

Nothing can stitch up a broken soul.

Seam resigned that day, saying he couldn’t bear to step foot in that castle ever again. Every servant understood how much pain he was in, but the kings were hesitant. The King of Spades at the time even mocked him and the pain in his soul. That was the one time he ever saw Rouxls stand up to the kings. Somehow, the Squire had managed to convince them to let the plush walk away.

In the middle of the Scarlet Forest, he had just stopped in his tracks. It felt like he was watching his body act on his own as he took the key to Jevil’s cell out. The only thing that kept his heart tethered together.

The snapping of the key breaking into three pieces still haunted him to this day.

There has been a lot of thinking since that day. The most painful day of his life.

And now that Jevil has come back, his soul was hurting in a whole new way. Every pant of exhaustion, every wince of pain, every whimper of nightmares...It was all because of Seam.

What happened to his silly little jester? What did he learn to drive him to such insanity?

Seam brought a paw to his button eye. The phantom ache hurt just as much as the faded sting of betrayal he felt when his marble eye rolled on the ground. The last thing that eye saw was a great and terrible grin as a wicked scythe came down on it. Then came the darkness. And with the darkness came...something. He wasn’t sure what was there, but there was something that was hidden by the light.

And everyone knows that the darker it is, the more you can see.

The plush cat finally snapped out of his musings and returned to the present. He looked down at the back of his paw. There was a rather shallow rip in his fabric. Right...His original train of thought began with noting how the rip had only started to sting when he noticed it was there.

He let out a sigh of defeat. What was the point in fixing himself up, anyway? It’s not like it mattered. Unlike his partner, Seam’s body can be killed. But it won’t die on its own. He’s lived a very long and storied life. He didn’t mind death as an option. He dropped his paw and went to sit down by the counter of his “Seap”.

Pitter patter of little feet caught his attention. Speak of the Jevil, and he shall appear. The little imp walked into the shop, limping and using a Devilsknife as a walking stick of sorts. Seam had tried to get Jevil to use an actual cane, but all he got for his efforts was mockery about his age. As if the little hooligan was any younger.

The jester looked up at Seam and grinned. He was still very low energy, evident in his tired grin. But the way it turned slightly lopsided as he let out his giggles was so endearing and charming.

_ “Why h-hello, hello, S-Seam!” _

“Where have you been, you little troublemaker?”

_ “Oh, just playing silly g-games with the locals, loc-cals! Their j-joy was quite vocal...” _

“Jevil...” The plush warned with a low growl in his voice.

_ “Uee hee! N-Not a numbers game...The thrill just isn’t...the same, same...” _

With what strength he saved, Jevil floated up and over the counter to be next to Seam, the Devilsknife vanishing into thin air. The imp noticed the gash on the shopkeeper’s paw. He sat himself on the counter.

_ “Are you not going t-to fix it up, up, up?” _

“Well I was hoping you would do it. Like old times,” Seam offered, lying through his teeth without missing a beat.

_ “How kind, how k-kind, Seam! Even if you lie, th-thinking you’re so sly.” _ Of course, no one can lie to Jevil. The imp taught the cat the art of lying, after all.

Seam conjured a needle and thread. Jevil put all of his attention and energy into the act of sewing his friend back up. It was tiring, but he managed to keep his hands so steady, statues could watch and be jealous. Seam smiled, thinking about how Jevil had the steadiest and most delicate of touches. Perfect for sleights of hand. And sewing, apparently.

Within a minute, Jevil had tightened the thread and used his razor sharp teeth as scissors to cut it short.

_ “There! G-Good as new, new!” _

“Thank you, old friend.”

_ “Candy time?” _

Seam eyed the little joker. “Not a chance. It’s tea time.”

_ “Booooo!! No fun, n-no fun! I wan...want can....dy.......” _

Jevil let himself fall onto the plush cat, snoozing away. The old mage let out a chuckle, realizing that Jevil must’ve used up all of his energy to float and keep his hands steady. Still, the imp was making good progress. Just a month and a half ago, he could barely keep his eyes open. He carried the little man over to the fireplace and set him down on the cat bed in front of it. His raggedy frame shook with mirth, seeing how after all of these decades, the little man still acted more like a cat than the actual cat in the room.

He turned on the little metronome he had set by the cat bed. As the little device’s needle swayed to and fro, so did Jevil’s tail. A temporary solution to his sleepwalking problem. And it enraptured the mage’s attention. He nodded to himself and went back to the shop counter, thinking that the tea can wait until after Jevil’s nap.

Perhaps there was a reason to keep his body together. Death can wait a while longer. And maybe there was something that can heal a broken soul after all...Or maybe not. One thing he did know was that he still had a promise to keep. And he was going to live to see it through, no matter how long it will take.

A Hathy walked into the shop.

“Heh heh heh. Welcome!”

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest, guys. Progress on Devilstale has been rather slow. I felt bad, so I whipped this up in a few hours.


End file.
